Drilling lines

After morning rehearsals, the actors have broken for lunch. Some of them are still running their lines as they eat, others just seem grateful for the break.

Tori J. Lazzara and Rachel Delmar gathered to eat after working through their lines in the first play of the night. After running through the whole play, they worked through the individual parts of their play.

It’s Rachel’s virgin weekend for acting, but she’s worked in 14/48 almost since she moved to Seattle. She had worked with other 14/48 performers previously, so when a director dropped out within 24 hours of the festival, she was called in. And she’s very glad she was.

“It’s where I met I met a lot of the people who are literally my best friends to this day.” For her, a big part of the greatness of 14/48 is how it brings the people together. “It’d be impossible to get these people together and make a play together,” but they can get a lot of people together to make multiple plays.

Although she’s been a part of many theater communities, she hasn’t seen a community like Seattle’s and “that’s because of 14/48.”

She’s directed, stage managed and worked with social media, but she said acting “is significantly more terrifying.”

When she drew a two person play the first night, she was convinced “it couldn’t be any worse” (two handers can be the most demanding for actors since they’re responsible for half the play), but it “ended up being fun.”

Teri’s most terrifying 14/48 experience was a Kamakazi where she got picked for writing. “It was a first and you don’t get many firsts after the age of 50,” she said with a smile. Although she said she “thinks she’d do it again” if she had a chance, this weekend she’s back to acting. That being said, she’s not sure if she’d act again, “but I always say that when I’m acting.”

At lunch, she was still working on nailing her lines and looking forward to what comes next. “When you’ve learned your lines, you get to play.”

She said the fact that she’s integrated in the 14/48 community (she’s been doing the festival for 10 years and is a member of the board) gives her an advantage. “The great thing about 14/48 is when you know your writer, you know what they want.”

After lunch, both of them ran off to drill their lines, so they could get them memorized and move on to the fun parts of acting.